Art on the Maidan – Viadrina commemorates the Ukrainian "Revolution of Dignity" with an exhibition

On the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the pro-European protests on the Kyiv Maidan, the European University Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder) is showing works of art from the "Revolution of Dignity". From Thursday, February 1, the exhibition "Contested Decision for Europe" can be seen in front of the library in the Viadrina main building, Große Scharrnstraße 59. Viadrina graduate and literary scholar Iryna Kovalenko will lead a guided tour of the exhibition on February 1 at 6 pm. Another guided tour will be offered on Tuesday, 20 February, 2 p.m.

Iryna Kovalenko, who is currently writing her doctoral thesis on the art of the Maidan as part of the special research area "Intervening Arts" at the Viadrina, has organized the exhibition at the Viadrina. "After Viktor Yanukovych took office in 2010, cultural workers were the first to sense that an anti-democratic and Russia-friendly policy was taking hold and they began to raise their voices against it," says Iryna Kovalenko on the role of artists on the Maidan. During the protests, art became a form of expression for those who otherwise had no voice.

More on Iryna Kovalenko's research: Link

When and where?

Guided tours:
Thursday, February 1, 2024 | 6.00 p.m.
Tuesday, 20. February 2024 | 2.00 p.m.
In front of the library in the Viadrina main building, Große Scharrnstraße 59, 15230 Frankfurt (Oder)
 

Background: The traveling exhibition "Umkämpfte Entscheidung für Europa" is a project by cultural scientist and curator Dr. Natalia Moussienko, who published a handbook on artistic forms of protest shortly after the protests on the Maidan. In addition to demonstrations and slogans, the protesters used art as a means of expression in the form of posters, performances, readings and stickers, among other things. They address the hopes and fears that hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians experienced and lived through together on Kyiv Independence Square in the winter months of 2013/14.